


Truthiness and Other Virtues

by etrix



Series: Destinies and Other Choices [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s05e19 Hammer of the Gods, Episode: s05e22 Swan Song, Gen, Wordcount: 30.000-50.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-08
Updated: 2010-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 05:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etrix/pseuds/etrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene from 5.18; contains spoilers for 5.21. </p><p>Not even the gods want to die but the plan is hardly foolproof.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truthiness and Other Virtues

* * *

 

Through the sheeting rain the trickster gods watched the slight figure walk into the hotel. Determination had put steel into his posture and hope put a slight bounce in his step. Gabriel the Archangel, was about to become a hero by saving the girl and maybe the whole world.  
   
“Go, angel dude,” Coyote cheered softly. He had no fondness for the Christian pantheon but, right now, there was a lot riding on the archangel’s willingness to sacrifice himself. That alone was worthy of admiration.  
   
“I can’t believe he believed us,” Loki snorted out a laugh, “Considering what we are, you’d think he’d’ve been more… sceptical.”  
   
“Just as well he wasn’t,” Anansi murmured in response.  
   
“Will it work?” Nezha asked. He was leaning so far over the back seat that Māui had been forced to perch himself on the teen’s shoulder.  
   
“No reason it won’t,” Coyote shrugged, “If he can get the Winchesters to do their part—”  
   
“Big ‘if’,” Loki interrupted.  
   
“—then Death will do his.”  
   
“Unless he was lying,” Saci commented. “He could’ve been.”  
   
All eyes turned toward the bird god. “You know him best, Māui.”  
   
“That’s hardly true.” The god fluffed his feathers nervously. His recent meeting with the Horseman still an unsettled, and disturbing, memory.  
   
“You invited him here to earth, I heard,” Coyote backed up his South American cousin, “Still talk to him too.”  
   
“Obviously,” Loki snorted, “It’s why Death went to him with the plan.”  
   
“Actually, Death contacted me and I went to him,” Māui admitted; not even a god could afford to ignore _that_ call, “but it’s not as if we had a conversation. He told me about the rings and the Winchesters and then told me to... arrange things. To ‘make it happen’, as it were.” The bird shifted uneasily from foot to foot. “He gave the impression that mistakes or missteps would not be tolerated.”  
   
“Sounds unpleasant,” the spider shivered slightly. He’d managed to avoid meeting the real Death for many, many centuries and he wasn’t looking forward to the experience.  
   
“He didn’t blink, not once,” Māui said with a shake. “I think he is very, very angry.”  
   
“But was he lying?” Nezha pressed. “Will using the rings actually do as Death says?”  
   
“He had no reason to lie,” Loki pointed out. His statement was punctuated by the lightning flashes and rolling thunder of the storm outside. The gods ignored it; they all knew how easy it was to play with the weather.  
   
Saci snorted, “He’s walking the earth in physical form for the first time in millennia. Why would he want to leave?”  
   
“The only reason he’s got a body this time is because that nutjob Lucifer did some kind of spell,” the Norse god argued. “How much you want to bet there were strings like anchor chains on the incantation?”  
   
“Not a thing, not even a dust mote,” Anansi answered.  
   
“It’s a little beneath him to be a fallen angel’s attack dog, don’t you think?” Loki commented, “I know I wouldn’t like it. I don’t think any of us would.” The other gods nodded or murmured their agreement. Part of the fun of being a trickster god was not having to obey anyone.  
   
Nezha sat back, reassured that Death had probably, most likely, told Māui the truth about the rings being able to create a cage for the Christian Devil. The bird god fluttered off the teen’s shoulder and settled back on the seat with a flick of his wings. Nezha twirled his gold ring idly, still thinking. “Perhaps we should have told the angel that Death would return him only if this works.”  
   
Coyote choked out a laugh, “Tell him the whole truth?” Nezha shrugged; he just had a vague feeling that the archangel had earned it. On the other hand, would he have been so easy to convince if they had? “We told him enough of the truth. I just hope they can pull it off.”  
   
Saci snorted in agreement, “No kidding. Two little humans with ‘issues’ and one angel who’s losing his Grace against the most malevolent creature in the Christian pantheon? It doesn’t look good.”  
   
The car fell silent as they contemplated the truth in the young god’s statement. The rain falling on the roof sounded like a thousand heartbeats. If this didn’t work, if the archangel couldn’t get the Winchesters to go after the Horsemen’s rings, or if the brothers didn’t follow the plan once they had them, then this was it. Humans were doomed and the gods right along with them.  
   
“There has to be something more we can do.” The boy god had stopped his juggling, and stared sadly at the stones in his hands, rubbing them lightly with his thumb.  
   
Nezha shrugged. “Perhaps there is a weapon we could find that would work against Pestilence, or even Lucifer.” The teen made the suggestion without real hope but it jogged something in the spider’s memory.  
   
“Hmm...” Anansi murmured then fell silent. Why did that sound familiar? A story... a recent story heard on the wind...  
   
“What?” Saci prodded, bouncing a stone near the spider’s spot on the roof.  
   
The African god jerked slightly, “Oh! Well, it may be nothing,” he stopped as he realized it wasn’t the weapon that would help, but the one who had provided it.  
   
Coyote bared his teeth in a low growl. “Nothing’s what we got right now. ‘Hmm’ means you’ve got a possibility.”  
   
The spider shifted uncomfortably, “It just that I may I know of someone that could help, someone with as much at stake in this as anyone.”  
   
Māui looked over at the African god. “Everyone on earth has something at stake.”  
   
“Yes but this one has power of his own and that could be useful. However,” the spider continued delicately, “there are problems with starting a relationship with him.” It was an understatement and it left it open to the other gods’ imaginations to picture the worst possible scenarios. Unfortunately, trickster gods all had _good_ imaginations. Coyote growled a little louder in annoyance.  
   
“Who is he?” Nezha asked for everyone. They all turned to stare at the spider.  
   
“Coyote’s met him, although he used a different name then.” Coyote lowered his brow, starting to move beyond annoyed into angry; Anansi’s description didn’t narrow it down much. “Now he’s called Crowley.”  
   
“The Crossroads demon?” Coyote was astonished. “He’s still up top?”  
   
“Indeed,” Anansi confirmed. “He’s helped the Winchesters before, or tried at least. They might be inclined to listen to him.”  
   
“They’d trust a demon?” Nezha’s tone was disbelieving. “That’s how this mess happened in the first place, isn’t it?”  
   
“Crossroad demons aren’t necessarily _bad_ ,” Saci said in defence, “I have a cousin who’s related to one. He’s an okay guy... no sense of humour though.”  
   
“Besides, all they have to do is listen, not trust,” Anansi assured the teen, “As long as they do one or the other Crowley could be of great assistance to us.”  
   
“Yeah, but he _is_ a demon,” Māui said. “Wouldn’t he automatically be on Lucifer’s side?”  
   
“I’ve already said he tried to help the Winchesters once,” the spider answered, “He gave them that gun, the Colt—you know the one I mean, right, Coyote? At least that’s the story going around.”  
   
“If I recall the gun didn’t help,” Loki sourly pointed out. The spider shrugged.  
   
“It’s a good idea” Coyote announced slowly “A crossroads demon exists to make deals. Without humans, what purpose does he have? What use would Lucifer have for him once all the humans are gone?  
   
“And being a crossroads demon would cover up how he knows things he shouldn’t, things we’ve told him or found for him,” Anansi added.  
   
Loki smiled, “With Gabriel out of the picture until the fight is over, having the ear of this Crowley, if he can get close to the brothers, will keep us in the loop, able to take action if we need to.” The Norse god nodded happily, “I like it.”  
   
“He’ll want something in return for his help.” Nezha pointed out “I do not wish to be in a demon’s debt, not even to save the world.” Māui nodded agreement and even Saci, not known for his common sense, looked concerned. “What else do we have to offer?”  
   
It was quiet once again in the car because the Asian god was right: a crossroads demon would not do something for nothing, not even to assure his own survival. That’s not how they were designed and they couldn’t operate that way.  
   
The rain had stopped and the thunder was distant. The showdown in the hotel was probably well underway when Anansi spoke once again. “I think I will call on my cousin Legba. He may hold a marker or two on Crowley that we can use. They often trade back and forth.”  
   
“And his conditions for doing business are a lot less nasty,” Saci said enthusiastically. He’d met the Vodoun spirit a couple times, thanks to his cousin. Like he’d said, the man had no sense of humour but other than that he’d been okay.  
   
“They’re practically in the same business.” Loki joked.  
   
Saci sneered, “Hardly. Christians got it all messed up, as usual.”  
   
“Before we start this old argument again, I have a pertinent question.” Māui interrupted, “Does anybody know where this Crowley can be found? Surely he’d be in hiding if he acted against the Devil.”  
   
“I think I can find him,” Coyote offered and his nose twitched like he was already on the scent. “Once Anansi talks to Papa Legba, he can find me and we’ll go talk to Crowley.” The spider nodded agreement.  
   
There was a loud noise from the hotel, like a muffled explosion. “That was Kali,” Loki said. He put his hand up, calling for silence. The gods listened beyond the walls of the building. They could barely hear the conversation in the banquet room, but they heard enough. “I think it’s time to go.”  
   
“I agree,” Māui muttered.  
   
Saci tossed one of his stones up in the air, flipping it end over end. As it turned it changed, becoming flat, dull and metal, like an old coin. The boy god didn’t bother catching it just let it fall through his hand into the mess on the floor. Loki raised his eyebrow in unspoken question. “This will allow me to track the Winchesters, not easy with all the angel scratching on their ribs. I’ll be able to listen in, find out if they’ve bought into Gabriel’s tale. If they find it, it will look like a demon’s coin and they’ll blame it on someone else.”  
   
“Excellent,” Nezha said, “Now let’s get out of here before they come out and catch us. Meet up in eight earth hours at my pavilion. We’ll be able to talk safely there.”  
   
“See you in eight hours,” Saci agreed and in a blink he disappeared.  
   
With a nod, Coyote opened the door and slid out of the car. Anansi, much smaller now, sat on the brim of his hat. Suddenly Māui laughed out loud. “Does anybody else think it’s funny that we—” a circling wingtip indicated the group remaining, “—a bunch of so-called pagan gods are using angels and demons as our tools?”  
   
Loki scowled, “If this works, I’ll laugh later.”  
   
One by one the gods disappeared leaving only Māui sitting on the back of the driver’s seat. “Ah irony,” he murmured, “nobody appreciates you anymore.”  
   
When Dean Winchester opened the door of his car, he heard the sound of wings beating but Cas was nowhere to be seen.   



End file.
